Is North Syracuse district right to punish students for out-of-school activity?

AP A STUDENT looks at a Facebook page.
Does a school district have any right to discipline a student for posting something on the Internet while not on school grounds?

The answer is a resounding yes. But the question of exactly when a district has that right is anything but clear. The decision must balance the student’s First Amendment rights with the school’s need to maintain discipline and pursue its educational mission, and different courts have come up with different rulings. So far, the U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled on any cases that might clarify the matter.

The issue is hot in Central New York right now following the three-day suspension of a seventh-grader at North Syracuse’s Roxboro Road Middle School. The student created a Facebook page containing what the school said were obscene and derogatory comments about a teacher. Thirty-three students who signed up as “fans” of the page were given three days of after-school detention.

Some parents have objected, saying the district should have no jurisdiction over students’ Internet use outside of school. But the courts disagree.

In a 2007 decision involving a Weedsport eighth-grader who posted a graphic threat against his teacher, a federal court ruled that the district could legally suspend the student because the posting “materially and substantially disrupt(ed) the work and discipline of the school.” Other rulings have used a similar standard, even when there are no explicit threats.

North Syracuse Superintendent Jerome Melvin makes a credible argument that the highly derogatory posts about the teacher could cause disruption at the school. The punishment of the student who created the page does not seem out of line.

But why haul in the 33 students who made the poor choice of becoming “fans” of the page — especially those who did not post any comments of their own? For those middle-schoolers — and the many other students at the school who spend hours each week on social networking sites — shouldn’t this be a “teachable moment” rather than a crackdown?

Students do have First Amendment rights, and those rights will expand as they leave school and grow into adulthood. With the explosion of blogs and social networking sites, they are in dire need of open, ongoing discussion of the reasons for those vital constitutional rights — and the responsibilities that go with them.

Internet postings can remain online for years, and can be accessed from anywhere. Students — even at the tender age of 12 or 13 — should be encouraged to think deeply about their interactions on the Web — interactions that will likely continue for the rest of their lives.

To its credit, North Syracuse did give all seventh-graders a session on cyber-bullying at the beginning of the school year, and another on keeping safe on the Internet. Now Melvin says he will recommend establishing a broad-based committee to further address the problem of cyber-bullying.

He is on the right track. North Syracuse may or may not have been within its rights to slap the 33 “fans” of the offensive page with detentions. But a more effective step will be to take advantage of the stir and move forward with intensive discussions with students — both at school and at home — about their rights and responsibilities in the digital age.